Following the team with a unique perspective on all things Phillies.Email me: PhilliesPhollowers@comcast.net – Peace, Love & Baseball – Jenn

Halladay Hit Hard

With a 3-8 loss to the Red Sox, it was a bad day all around for Phillies fans.First, two of the stars from the movie “The Hangover” were supposed to throw out first pitches, but I guess it got bumped due to time constraints after the rain clean-up and tarp removal.And I really, really wanted a picture of Bradley Cooper.A sad day for women everywhere…

Next, the curse of the Phillies and Interleague play continued…Roy Halladay had a very, very bad day.Worries about his being overworked in his last outing, throwing 132 pitches, are beginning to look justified.Todd Zolecki reported that due to the increased work load, Halladay actually adjusted his routine between starts.Anytime a pitcher is thrown off his usual routine, something is wrong.

And that something is that Halladay is being used and abused and it finally caught up to him.He had given up just 1 run going into the 4th inning but that is where the game took a serious turn for the worse.With the bases loaded and one out, Greg Dobbs missed a ball that looked like a routine double play ball. Instead, it trickled into the outfield and 2 runs scored.

Knowing that would have gotten him out of the jam, Halladay was visibly upset and had to be calmed by pitching coach, Rich Dubee.It all went downhill from there.Halladay ended the game with 7 runs, 6 of them earned, in just 5 2/3 innings.The defense did not help him out as witnessed by the Dobbs blunder and check out this miss, which Shane Victorino almost caught:

By the way, this begs the question, why was Dobbs playing third with a sinker ball pitcher on the mound?There is way too much action at 3rd in this situation and, as a bench player, Dobbs does not get much practice.Placido Polanco could have taken a day off when either Joe Blanton or Cole Hamels were going to pitch.The move made no sense and it cost the Phillies.

What also cost them was the lack of offense…again.The Sox pitcher, Tim Wakefield, had not thrown a shut-out since 1997.But today, it looked like it may happen as he went 8 scoreless innings.The Phillies made this 43-year old pitcher look like a spring chicken.

Once Wakefield was pulled, the Phillies managed to squeak out 3 runs in the 9th with a Ross Gload 2-run homer and doubles from Jayson Werth and Raul Ibanez. Here are a few more game shots:

Here is the full Photo Album from today’s game which includes these shots and more.

So the Phillies will be holding their annual Phillies Phestival tomorrow and I will report back on those events sometime on Tuesday.After the Phestival,they hit the road and start a series with the Mets at 7:10pm on Tuesday night.

2 Comments

Jenn,
Are those your pictures!? Those are great shots. I am always looking to take pictures where I can get the ball in the picture but I seem to miss it. Sue is anaother one that takes great pictures.
Looking forward to your report on the Phillies Phestival.
Emmahttp://crzblue.mlblogs.com

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